126 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [eth.ans.19 



hud hiH'ii nititiod by ;i niiijority of one vote over the necessary nuiul)er, 

 and preliminary steps were at once taken to carry it into execution. 

 Councils were held in opposition all over the Cherokee Nation, and 

 resolutions denounciiifj' the methods used and declaring the treaty 

 absolutely null and void were drawn up and submitted to General 

 Wool, in command of the troops in the Cherokee country, l)y whom 

 they were forwarded to Washington. The President in reply expressed 

 his surprise that an officer of the army should have received or trans- 

 mitted a paper so disrespectful to the Executive, the Senate, and the 

 Amoi'ican people; declared his settled determination that the treaty 

 shovdd be carried out without modification and with all consistent 

 dispatch, and directed that after a copy of the letter had been delivered 

 to Ross, no further communication, by mouth or writing, should be held 

 with him concerning the treaty. It was further directed that no coun- 

 cil should b(> permitted to assemble to discuss the treaty. Ross bad 

 alread}- been informed that the President had ceased to recognize any 

 existinof ofovernment among the eastern Cherokee, and that any fur- 

 ther effort by him to prevent the consummation of the treaty would be 

 suppressed.' 



Notwithstanding this suppression of opinion, the feeling of the 

 Nation was soon made plain through other sources. Before the ratifi- 

 cation of the treaty Major W. ]M. Davi.s had been appointed to enroll 

 the Cherokee for removal and to appraise the value of their improve- 

 ments. He soon learned the true condition of affairs, and, although 

 holding his office by the good will of President Jackson, he addressed 

 to the Secretai'y of War a strong letter upon the subject, from which 

 the following extract is made: 



I conceive that my duty to the Prasident, to yourself, and to my counti-y reluc- 

 tantly compels me to make a statement of facts in relation to a meeting of a small 

 number of Cherokees at New Echota last December, who were met by Mr. Scher- 

 merhorn and articles of a general treaty entered into between them for the whole 

 Cherokee nation. . . . Sir, that jiaper, . . . called a treaty, is no treaty at all, 

 because not sanctioned by the great body of the Cherokee and made without their 

 participation or assent. I solemnly declare to you that upon its reference to the 

 Cherokee people it would be instantly rejected by nine-tenths of them, and I believe 

 by nineteen-twentieths of them. There were not present at the conclusion of the 

 treaty more than one hundred Chei'okee voters, and not more than three hundred, 

 including women and children, although the weather was everything that could be 

 desired. The Indians had long been notified of the meeting, and blankets were 

 promised to all who would come and vote for the treaty. The most cunning and 

 artful means were resorted to to conceal the paucity of numbers present at the treaty. 

 No enumeration of them was made by Schermerhorn. The liusiness of making the 

 treaty was transacted with a committee appointed by the Indians present, so as not 

 to exjiose their numbers. The j^ower of attorney under which the connnittee acted 

 was signed only by the president and secretary of the meeting, so as not to disclose 

 their weakness. . . . Mr. Schermerhorn' s apparent design was to conceal the real 

 number present and to impose on the public and the government upon this point. 



1 Royce, Cherokee Nation, op. cit.. pp. 283, '2S4; Report of Indian Commissioner, pp. 2S5, 2Hfl, 1836. 



